Major breaking news hit the WWE Universe on Sunday as three superstars were officially released. They included former WWE tag team champion, as well as two of the current stars of the women's division. However, all three released superstars haven't been involved in a whole lot lately, with the exception of one who is an especially surprising release. Here's the latest on WWE releasing Darren Young, Summer Rae, and Emma on Sunday.

WWE cleans house

The first big announcement came early on Sunday when the WWE website published a report that WWE star Emma was released. There weren't too many details given about the release and they gave her the standard "best of luck" speech for her "future endeavors."

Soon after Emma's release, they announced several more superstars were released. Both Darren Young and Summer Rae were announced as the next casualties of WWE's latest house cleaning. Ironically, Young had just appeared alongside The Miz, Enzo, and Becky Lynch at a WWE promotional event during last night's L.A. Clippers basketball game.

Author's take

These sorts of WWE releases happen every so often with multiple superstars being bid farewell by the company. In the case of Darren Young and Summer Rae, neither of these superstars were being seen much at all on WWE programming. They may have kept active on social media and in various events, but they had no usage on the main roster. Young had previously held the WWE tag team titles with Titus O'Neil and chased the Intercontinental Championship for a short bit while WWE star Bob Backlund was his mentor.

There had been recent WWE rumors circulating that Summer Rae was on her way out. She even hinted at it herself on social media by saying she wished she could have enjoyed another program with Sasha Banks on the main roster.

As far as Emma goes, her release may come as the biggest shock. Just last weekend at Sunday's "TLC 2017" pay-per-view, Emma competed against Asuka who was making her main roster debut. Asuka picked up the win, but didn't dominate the match like fans expected her to. Weeks were spent in building up Emma to be Asuka's opponent, with the Australian superstar even winning a special match on WWE "Raw" to become Asuka's first challenger. Emma had been reintroduced to fans over the past year, with an original gimmick of her returning as "Emmalina" being abandoned.

With that said, WWE's loss will likely be another wrestling company's gain. With WWE star Neville recently walking out as well as Austin Aries, other superstars are starting to see different opportunities out there beyond WWE.